英国奥运军团能否重振帝国雄风?

Great Britain came home from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics with just one gold medal - two fewer than Kazakhstan - and a wounded national psyche. Sixteen years later, Team GB has been overhauled and rebuilt thanks to a machine-like agency flush with cash from the U.K. lottery that grooms British athletes. The result could be a record-setting performance here for the home squad.
在6月举行的奥运选拔赛上，英国田径运动员恩尼斯在庆祝胜利。1996年亚特兰大奥运会，大不列颠只带回了一枚金牌──比哈萨克斯坦少两枚──和一颗受伤的民族心灵。16年后，得益于一个从国家彩票基金拿到充裕资金、专门培养英国运动员的机器般精密运作的机构，英国奥运代表团（Team GB）已经彻底改头换面。结果就是英国队有望在自家主场实现创纪录的表现。

Britain's quiet rise in Olympic competition over the past decade and a half - from winning a paltry 15 medals in 1996 to scoring 47 in 2008 - is a textbook turnaround story. The U.K. has turbocharged its Olympic apparatus in anticipation of the London Games, filling the coffers of the publicly chartered agency that grooms athletes; recruiting foreign-born competitors known as 'Plastic Brits'; importing top coaches; and ruthlessly focusing the country's efforts on events where it could win medals.
从1996年微不足道的15枚奖牌到2008年的47枚，英国过去15年在奥运会赛场的悄然崛起就是扭转乾坤的典型案例。为备战伦敦奥运会，英国已经全方位巩固自己的奥运配置，为政府特许的运动员训练机构注入资金，招募被称为“塑料英国人”（Plastic Brits）的出生在国外的运动员，引进顶级教练，并狠抓有机会赢得奖牌的项目。

The outcome is that Britain could step out of the shadows from longtime Olympic powerhouses such as the U.S., China and Russia and make some headlines of its own. Goldman Sachs & Co. forecasts Britain will win more gold medals than Russia this summer, a potential upset that would mark a major milestone in Olympic history. The bank's analysts estimate Britain will win 65 medals overall, 38% more than it did in 2008.
结果是，英国有可能会走出美国、中国和俄罗斯等传统奥运强国的阴影，并且还有望制造出一些头条新闻。高盛（Goldman Sachs & Co.）预测英国今年夏天赢的金牌将超过俄罗斯，这种可能的结果或许会成为奥运史上的一个重要里程碑。高盛的分析师预测英国将赢得65枚奖牌，比2008年多出38%。

'This is not about taking part. It's about winning,' said Liz Nicholl, chief executive of U.K. Sport, the agency tasked with winning Olympic medals for Britain.

负责英国夺取奥运奖牌事宜的机构“英国体育”（U.K. Sport）的首席执行长尼科尔（Liz Nicholl）说，不仅仅是参与，关键是要赢。

Nicholl predicts the U.K. will see its best performance in modern times this summer. 'I have no doubt about it, actually,' she said. Since persuading the government to hand over extra money in 2006, the U.K. team has enjoyed 'optimal funding,' she said.
尼科尔预测，今年夏天英国将看到自己在现代奥运史上最突出的表现。她说，事实上我对此毫不怀疑。她说，从2006年说服政府划拨更多资金以来，英国队就享受到了“最优厚的资助”。

It wasn't always this way for British athletes. The disastrous performance in Atlanta was devoured by the British press, which pointed to tales of hard-up athletes, including that of two U.K. divers, Bob Morgan and Tony Ally, who hawked their official Olympic gear on the streets of Atlanta for cash.
英国运动员并非向来就享受着这种待遇。他们在亚特兰大奥运会的糟糕表现遭到英国媒体穷追猛打，媒体指责运动员为钱不择手段，其中包括两名英国跳水运动员摩根（Bob Morgan）和艾利（Tony Ally），他们在亚特兰大沿街兜售自己的奥运队服换取现金。

The loss to Kazakhstan merited special scorn. 'A nation of goat-keepers and shepherds last night humiliated the might of Great Britain's Olympic team,' the Daily Mirror tabloid wrote at the time, decrying the indignity of losing to a country 'where locals use eagles to catch food.'
金牌数输给哈萨克斯坦尤其遭到鄙视。英国小报《每日镜报》（Daily Mirror）当时写道，“昨晚一个牧羊之国羞辱了大不列颠奥运队的威力”，谴责输给一个“国民用老鹰捕捉食物”的国家是对英国的侮辱。

The crisis prompted British politicians to divert money from the newly created U.K. lottery into a sports apparatus that would churn out medal-winning athletes and restore national pride.
这场危机促使英国政府将资金从新成立的国家彩票基金划拨给一个能够培养大批赢得奖牌的运动员以及重振民族威望的体育机构。

That agency, U.K. Sport, was launched in 1997. It initially prioritized the few sports where Britain excelled - rowing, sailing, cycling and track and field - and focused on athletes within those sports who had a shot at medals.
这个机构就是“英国体育”，于1997年成立。该机构起初是重点抓英国擅长的那些项目，包括赛艇、帆船、自行车和田径，并着重培养在这些项目中有望拿到奖牌的运动员。

It was a hard-nosed approach. U.K. Sport even rooted out 'system blockers,' or athletes who were competing internationally but had passed their prime and appeared unlikely to win Olympic medals. From then on, U.K. Sport would provide ample funding to athletes - if they had a metallic future.
这是一个务实的办法。“英国体育”甚至根除了“体制障碍”，也就是那些在国际上打比赛但已经过了黄金期而且不大可能赢奥运奖牌的运动员。自那时起，“英国体育”就能够为运动员提供充足的资金支持──前提是他们未来有赢奖牌的希望。

'We are investing in the outcome of medal success,' Nicholl says. 'We are absolutely, unapologetically focused on that. So we will make the tough calls.'
尼科尔说，我们是在为赢奖牌的结果投资，我们完全是以这个为中心，而且对此问心无愧，所以我们要做出艰难的选择。

So intent was Britain on winning medals that it encouraged some high-performing athletes to switch into sports where they would have a better shot at making it to the Olympic podium. Rebecca Romero, for instance, won a silver medal in rowing at the 2004 Athens Olympics but was later encouraged to switch to track cycling, where she won gold in the 2008 Games.
英国想赢奖牌的希望是如此迫切，甚至鼓励有些高水平运动员转向其更有希望进军奥运会的项目。罗梅罗（Rebecca Romero）就是一个例子。她在2004年雅典奥运会夺得赛艇项目银牌，但后来被鼓励换成了场地自行车项目，她在2008年奥运会上夺得该项目的金牌。